20-25 years ago I went on a rifle elk hunt up at Mt St Helen’s with one of my best friends in early November. As the hunt neared the weather forecast was starting to look pretty wild. On the way up we stopped at Cabelas to get some snowshoes. It was sounding like we could get a couple feet of snow, maybe more.

My buddy had a 2001 dodge diesel, and just got a camper. Where we were going to hunt is a popular area. It would be common for 10-15 trucks to be parked where you could access the drainages to hike into and hunt.

We had tire chains for all 4 tires, and needed them to get up to where we planned to park. Line I said above, this place is usually very popular. With all the snow, there was just one truck with a camper and a horse trailer. When we saw that we new the next morning was going to be a fun hunt.

We woke up well before daylight, got in our rain gear, packs, and put on our snow shoes. The snow had really dumped over night, and was about 3 ft deep. The plan was to drop into a large basin, then hunt our way down the left side, and out then keep hiking out a ridge. We figured with no one out else out there we’d either see elk, or cross tracks. The other guys with the horses were still asleep when we headed out.

About a mile and a half into the hunt we cut accross tracks where a herd of elk had headed straight down hill. With all the snow coming down, we knew the tracks were pretty fresh. We slowly followed the tracks down the hill. There were lots of small benches all over as we dropped down. After about 500 yards of slowly following the tracks, and glassing I spotted a bull bedded about 150 yards away on a small bench.

My buddy laid down, and shot the bull. It got up staggered a little bit and dropped.

By the time we got the final load back up to the truck the other guys were gone. The snow was so deep they abandoned the truck, camper, horse trailer and rode the horses out. Who knows when they got back up there, probably the next spring.

On the drive out there were multiple snowdrifts over the road that were almost 5 ft tall. Even with all 4 tires chained up we got stuck multiple times. The road out is a very narrow winding road with steep hillsides on one side or the other. If you go off the road, your probably not surviving.


That was my only snow shoe hunt experience. The kind of trip you had to have the benifit of being young,dumb, and invincible to pull off😂

 

Great story Michael, shows grit, I would expect nothing less from you.

I once saw a picture in a book of a painting from the American West in the late 1830’s. A lone Native American hunter on Ojibwa snowshoes was running a bull bison down in very deep snow and shooting him full of arrows,,, from,,,,ten or fifteen feet away.


His Ojibwa snowshoes were totally authentic, being curved up to a tip both front and back, so he could also go backwards fast and easy. Not a bad idea when that close to a bison bull he was turning into a huge, angry “porcupine” with his arrows.


During the 1980’s I lived in Wyoming and over the counter doe antelope tags were almost dealt out to residents like a hand of poker cards,,,lots of queens. This season went into snowy times.

I was looking at a herd of antelope way up a valley but they could see anyone coming really easy.

The next morning, I got there at 4 AM. It was five below zero. There was lots of snow on the valley bottom, but much more windblown where they were. No moon, but super clear night and sky full of bright stars. Antelope were a bit higher in elevatioin so thermals were falling and in my face.

I walked in on my 60”x12” Ojibwa ash and full grain rawhide snowshoes. When I got to where it seemed right I set up next to a round cedar bush.

Those long Ojibwa snowshoes can form the frame for an instant shooting blind. Just tie them together, stick them in the snow and make an “X”, with their spaces for the front of your boots overlapping to make a shooting window about 6”x 6”. Then I draped an old tattered green GI wool blanket on the the upright points of the snowshoes. I had cut two slits for this in the blanket and also cut out some material to match the window in my “X” shaped showshoe blind.

Shooting sticks, ski poles, or any sticks long enough for braces really make this blind stable.

I then had and still have a 1952 made Winchester model 70 in 270 with a vintage fixed 6x Weaver scope.

Come dawn they were about 350 yards away but moving in to me.

It’s bad to shoot the lead doe, typically she is the one with important herd survival knowledge. When they got under 250 yards I shot a doe deeper in the herd.

I went down and dragged her to my truck walking out on my snowshoes.
DB

 

Oh man sounds like adventure! I do some snowshoeing close by my house on a hill I hike often but never hunted from them!

 

You already covered snowshoes 3 years ago. Getting forgetful?

 

No not at all. Fresh snow falls all the time. What a great write up above from Michael Rankin. He had a fine place to hunt elk because they had bought snowshoes. Good reminder.

 

Alpine ski are another great way to get along and hunt in snow. Put on a good pair of skins and they clump great. Cost is the main con.

 

Many years ago my Dad and I went on a late season white tail hunt, up in Washington. Living in a camper, so much snow that it was hard to even get off the plowed highway. I had purchased an old set of aluminum-framed snowshoes at a garage sale, than k goodness. The webbing was rotten, so I spent some time replacing it with 1/4" yellow poly rope. Worked great! I went out the first day, while Dad stayed in the camper. Lots of deer, down low, snow up to their necks. I shot a nice buck and dragged him back to camp. The next day Dad to the snowshoes and got his own deer. It certainly wasn't fair to the deer, but a lot of fun to be more mobile than they were!

 

Those recent military surplus light metal frame snowshoes with wire webbing are just the ticket for going into bog and wet grassland marshes. Often there are some bumps/mounds where deer and elk hide out during hunting season. With their splayed hooves and dew claws they handle that country very well. I used to use leather and rawhide webbing for such duty but they got real soggy and stretched a lot, so I got a metal pair.

 

I could have used em in Montana last year. Post-holing in that dry snow for a few miles took the wind out of my sails.

I saw a couple of guys out there on telemark skis, not hunting. That looked like the way to go fast, and quiet. I followed their tracks out.

 

I am down to four pair of snowshoes. Two ash and leather traditional, Ojibwa and Huron a pair of the metal ones just shown above and a hybred modern pair with huge ice/crust cleats. They are a smaller shoe with solid webbing. They are ideal for areas where it's steep and the snow melts then freezes over and over. They are like little bulldozers.

In times past the desert mountains where I once lived had lots of crusty snow and I used to go down 2000 feet in elevation to dry ground where the mountain quail migrated too. Then back up. I used those smaller shoes with the long cleats. No other snowshoe would work, too dangerous. There are no free lunches and the problem with those cleats. was you had to lift your legs a few inches higher each time or they would catch on the shoe they passed over and you would trip.

Also those solid web snowshoes sound good at first but any snow that fell on them going down does not fall through on the lift, so they can get heavy. I much prefer the stability of snowshoes over skis when hunting and carrying a rifle.
In years past I hunted with fellows on skis, but when we hit the tangles and ups and downs, they ended up going home,

I can run straight up some steep snow sinking my toes and instep deep in for grip.

Skiers love the free fast ride, slide and glide. Those are the last things I want when hunting.

 

Oh 444. You mentioned post holing, A strange version on bogs. and marshes during summer and fall, Vertical beaver holes. With small branches over them they are nearly invisible. Great way to break a leg. So safe and fast to cross such country on those light metal snowshoes with wire mesh

 

After a snowstorm blows through a mountain system the mid to high valleys are often deep with settled snow. Feed is covered up but the highest wind-blown talus slopes and rocky ridges can be quite snow free with available food in the form of native grasses and ground cover like buckwheat's and shrubs,

The mule deer, mountain quail, and some grouse even elk have now temporarily moved up to wild sheep country. Once up there hunting can be very productive.

I have used both short hybrid shoes with crust cleats getting up, then strapped them on my back once on bare rocky ground. Or I have used real long Ojibwas with their front pointed tips like a handle and they can be used as two or one strong walking staffs over the worst country.

I found the choice to be toss-up. Either way I was wearing my normal winter hiking boots that I used with my snowshoes not cross-country ski boots.

Getting up to such places was really hard, but once there I had the game and views to myself. The reverse being coming down steep ravines on frozen crust to snow free foot hill valleys where game wintered.

That said, I would rather slide a deer down than carry it up. Either way various style snowshoes were the safest and most energy effective if not the only mode of transportation to such otherwise inaccessible places.
I hope that after my two knees replacements I will again be fit for such hunting adventures.

I been doing this now for over 60 years. First in New England, The Berkshire Mts., The Appalachians, Adirondacks and the Rocky Mts. Also in the Sky Island Mountain Chains overlooking our SW deserts and in bogs and marshes here in the PNW.

Snowshoe hunting is work but it works. Just takes thinking out of the box.
DB

 

Anybody else have such hunting memories ?

The extent of my snow shoe use has been varmint shooting. An area I like has miles of roads but all are closed to motorized entry from Nov 20 - May 31. It's a deer/elk wintering area. There's one road legally open through the area. I used to drive in, find the beginning of a side road, then snow shoe as needed. It's right at my limit distance-wise. Usually the snow is only a 12-18 inches deep but it is ice-crusted "wrongly" in that it's a real booger to walk through but not thick enough to support my weight so there's a lot of post-holing going on .. and bloody shins to match. Snow shoes help a bunch. I learned the hard way that you can stop on snow shoes just like skis ... step on the tip of one snow shoe with the other then try to lift the first foot. Face-plant, snow up nose, snow in rifle barrel .. nothing to do but laugh at myself then pick the snow out. I'd kinda quit that .. like a decade or two ago .. but I found a new way in more cross country but only 1.5 miles round trip instead of 10-11 miles round trip.

 

I snowshoe quite a bit in the winter. It's one of my favorite things. So peaceful to be out on a trail with a heavy snow falling! Winter hiking without the mud! Snowshoes are also part of my must have spring bear gear. There were times in the past where I wish I had them with me, so now they always go, just in case.

 

I've had the same pair of MSR snow shoes for probably close to 20 years now. The bindings work great for me, and I like the option of adding the rear fins for additional floatation. Although, they don't balance as well as when I wear them with out. If I was a better skier, I'd probably go that route instead of shoes and move quieter through the woods. Packing out a large animal on my back...I'd probably want snowshoes. But then there's always the option of a sled.

If we were more of a winter sport family, I'd love to get my kids into biathlon!

 

Hello 444.

What a lousy day today was, sunny in the morning for a few hours they the sloppy fog came in with rain and wet snow going back and forth. My mare stayed in her barn all day while I sat by the wood stove a lot today watching snowshoe versus XC Ski comparison videos and looking up videos of hunters actually hunting on snowshoes. I found a bunch. Guys in Alaska going right up these damn steep hills in Alaska on a modern snowshoe with cleats going Ptarmigan hunting.

Other guys in Maine hunting whitetail deer on snowshoes. Loaded rifle in their arms, no need for ski poles, their big wide snowshoe platforms were that stable.

Saw other videos of some fellow with traditional Huron snowshoes like mine walking fast, close to running pulling a sled loaded with firewood up a hill.


These guys were burly Canadian hunters. I had this whole human/snowshoe 4x4 feeling watching what they were doing so easily.

Skis could barely even get up those hills much less pull a load. The Skiers would be crawling up slowly making a herringbone pattern while the snowshoers would be up top laughing at them.

I watched a lot of XC skis vs snowshoe videos. Back and forth about how it all depends on snow conditions and intended uses. Not one included use for hunting.

They had these DEEP unbroken snow tests/comparisons. The huge old fashioned traditional shoes were the big winners.

On groomed trails and level ground the skis made the guys on snowshoes look silly. But once it got RUFF this reversed.

Then I looked up “Hunting on Skis”. I could not find one single you tube video. I did a general search and found references to Siberians Hunting with skis but upon further reading they used their skis to get to the place where they were then going to hunt on foot.

It comes down to this. Safety, steadiness and silence. If you were actually hunting, carrying a loaded rifle in your arms, would you rather be on a stable platform, no need for ski poles. Using snowshoes that could go up and down hill safety and stop dead at will.

Or would you want to be on narrow slick sticks designed to glide and slide easily on frozen water?

This is a no brainier when it comes to hunting in uneven country, with brush no less.

One thing was repeated, how quiet wooden and rawhide snowshoes were.

Pretty soon I begin my winter Snowshoe Biathlon. I go out with whatever snowshoe matches the conditions I chose for that day. I use either my Sako Finnlite in 308 or my model 70 stainless in 6.5x55 Swede. I have extra scopes just for this Snowshoe Rifle Shooting Season”

Targets are everywhere, already set up. A knot in log, A pine cone sticking up in the snow across a the canyon. All that matters is seeing where my bullet hit.
My rifle stays in my arms, I am stable, no need for ski poles. My rifle is empty till that moment I shoot.
Been doing this for 30 years.
DB